The One Who Loved Hook
by Lady Josephine
Summary: This is the rather sad story of hook's tragic love affair which caused him to turn mad and bloodthirsty. Also a bit on why he really hates peter pan.
1. Hook's Notsohumble Beginnings

The One Who Loved Hook  
  
Hook wasn't always called Hook. He only adopted that name after Peter Pan sliced off his right hand and he had to use a hook. He thought it had a rather intimidating sound. But in his heart he knew that Hook could never replace Jamie.  
  
Hook was baptized James Luciano Bartolini. He was of Anglo-Italian parentage, and would be a member of nobility had he grown up in the real world. His mother was the daughter of an English Earl and his father, an Italian Viscount. However his father died rather unfortunately during an assassination attempt, and his distraught mother, widowed and in the final stages of her pregnancy, decided to return to her father's estate.  
  
He was born in a ship. That made many things fated. When he was born, many thought he would die soon, and the ship's chaplain quickly baptized him. James after his grandfather, and Luciano Bartolini after the father he would never know. But cruel fate caused his mother to die instead of him, and left him an orphan.  
  
Hook's bachelor uncle decided to raise him. As bachelors are wont to be, Earl Worthingham was a frightfully forgetful man who would forget even the simplest things like whether he had his dinner or if he had already taken a bath. It was amazing that he managed to look after Hook for three years.  
  
At three years old, James Luciano Bartolini had already been a handsome boy. He had the dark hair and strong features of his father, and the piercing blue eyes of his mother. He also had an unnatural fondness of water and he always got terribly excited whenever his uncle took him out on boating trips.  
  
It was at one of these boating trips when he got lost. It wasn't clear how he went overboard, but one moment he was there in his pram, and the next moment he was gone and they all heard a splash. The Earl jumped into the water immediately, forgetting to remove his shoes and coat, but the little body of James could not be found.  
  
Meanwhile James was hit unconscious at the side of the boat and he sank like a brick to the bottom of the water. His last thought was, Maybe I am going to be part of the water. He could not remember what happened following that, but he did remember what happened when he finally woke up, and he never forgot.  
  
He was lying on the sandy shore, with the sun shining down at him comfortably. But his wet clothes made him very uncomfortable. He tottered to his feet and surveyed his surroundings.  
  
Neverland! 


	2. Neverland!

This was Neverland. His Neverland. There was the beautiful big ship he'd dreamt of, slightly off the coast. And the tropical jungle and the shiny new castle. He removed his frilly coat and shoes and stockings and ran about the shore, and with each step he grew. He'd always wanted to be ten years old, and at his tenth step, he became ten years old. Now he was tall and strong and he could do anything, because he was ten years old.  
  
In a way, Hook was the first Lost Boy. There were others living in Neverland, other boys who fell out of their perambulators. But those boys were a silly frivolous bunch who did nothing but sit around and throw balls at each other. But young James decided that he should hunt bear. He fashioned a crude spear and went in search of bears.  
  
Hunting bears was difficult when one hunts alone. But soon the other boys saw what fun bear hunting might be, and joined James. With the combined strength of ten boys, they felled their first bear and shared the skins and fur. Thus came about the tradition of bearskins. The boys played together in the ship and in the castle and it was James' idea to call themselves the Lost Boys.  
  
In time he became tired of being ten years old all the time. He had been in Neverland for years and the novelty of being ten years old had worn off. He decided to become sixteen. He went back to his little bit of shore and took six steps. But nothing happened. He jumped six times. He did six backflips. But he still remained ten years old.  
  
Exhausted, he sank down on the sand. He lay there for a long time. He squeezed his eyes shut very tightly. Then he felt a small hand touch his cheek. Opening his eyes, he stared into the large innocent eyes of a baby. The baby was barely a year old and was still crawling on hands and knees. James sat up and picked up the baby and said, "I wish I was like you. All I had to do was run around and I could grow up as quickly as I wanted."  
  
The baby acted like it had heard what he said. It struggled away from James and stood uncertainly on its little plump legs. Then it took a step. And another. And another. James sat and watched its growing up process. After it's sixth step, James' eyes grew bigger and his jaw dropped in amazement.  
  
The baby was a girl-thing.  
  
She steadily grew taller and taller and her blond hair grew longer and longer until it fell all the way to her waist. Finally after her tenth step, she stopped growing. James stared at the girl-thing. She was the prettiest thing he had ever seen. Her eyes were a pale green and her hair was blonder and brighter than anybody's hair he had seen.  
  
"Hello!" the girl-thing said. She walked towards James, who moved backwards in fear. Seeing his fear, she stopped and stalked away. James could not help seeing how pretty she was and stared after her. Then he sighed.   
  
He did not notice that with that sigh, he aged a year. 


	3. The Girl thing

The girl-thing was sitting alone in the lagoon. He stood a far distance watching her. She seemed to be acting a little strange, talking like someone was replying her. He came closer and closer, curiosity becoming the better of him. Then he saw faces in the water. Blue faces with sleek red hair.  
  
The girl-thing turned and smiled at him. He frozed and remained standing where he was, too afraid to move or speak. The blue faces stared insolently at him. Then one of them reached out with a long blue-veined arm and lightly caressed the cheek of the girl-thing. And she disappeared into the waters. The others followed suit. Then he saw that they were mermaids. The feared mermaids that had claimed many a Lost Boy who wandered too near the lagoon.  
  
He found his tongue. "Why didn't they pull you into the water?"  
  
"Because they are my mermaids," the girl-thing replied.  
  
That was how James met Christine. There had never been a Lost Girl before, because girls are too smart to fall out of their perambulators, but Christine had rather honestly admitted that she wasn't all that smart herself. Her mother had wheeled her out to the park and was chatting with other ladies when a couple of blue-birds caught her eye. So Christine fell out of her pram and crawled towards the bush. When she reached the bush, a trail of ants interested her terribly and she followed the trail. One thing led to another and she became lost. She fell asleep and woke to find herself on Neverland.  
  
James and Christine became best friends. They ran around together and played together and killed bears together. James always gave the best furs to Christine and Christine always brushed James' hair for him. They slept side by side in the ship and they spent long hours talking in the castle.  
  
Gradually James fell in love with Christine, and Christine also had the same feelings for James. Unknowingly, James turned sixteen. He became taller and stronger. His features become more defined and chiseled and he was as handsome as a fine young horse. Christine also grew. She was prettier than ever, and her body developed in a way which made James embarassed at times.  
  
Christine always insisted on calling James Jamie. Only Christine called him Jamie. Her voice was the first thing he heard in the morning and the last thing he heard in the night. She also had a fondness of brushing his long dark hair. Many nights were spent quietly talking with Christine brushing James' hair.  
  
Then he screwed up his courage and told her that he loved her. Christine replied by kissing him. Neither of them had kissed before and the feelings that were evoked were pleasant. After that magical night, the days seemed even rosier. The two of them rarely associatedly with the Lost Boys anymore, most of whom had remained as little children.  
  
Christine loved to make up stories, especially pirate stories. These stories of adventures in the high sea intrigued James very much. It answered something in his heart and soothed it with the daring escapades of Captain James and Lady Christine and the gentle sound of Christine's voice.  
  
But James was a jealous person. He hated any moment when Christine was not at his side. Christine always went to talk to the Mermaid Queen, who was fond of her. James grudged every moment Christine spent away with him. He never said anything to her about it, afraid that she would laugh at him for being jealous. He began to see anything as a threat that would take Christine away from him.  
  
Anything, and everything. 


	4. Bloodlust

Alas, but it was himself who lost Christine. Christine had known of James' jealousy but she did not know how to tell him that the mermaids were part of her like the ship was part of him. She knew that James hated the mermaids. But she loved James with all her heart and hated to think of the character flaw in him. So she invited him to talk with the mermaids.  
  
"My dearest mermaids, I have with me my beloved Jamie. I beseech you to treat him like you treat me because he is part of me, as I am of him," she said to the blue faces.  
  
"One is honoured to meet the beloved of Christine," the Mermaid Queen replied.  
  
But James kept silent. He looked at the Queen with an expression of indifference but there was hatred in his eyes. Christine was helpless. "Jamie, please do say something. Do it for me."  
  
"Christine, I shall not talk to these creatures who take you away from me," he replied savagely. He turned and climbed the rocks. Christine tried to follow him, but she slipped on a wet rock and fell, hitting her head hard on a sharp jutting rock, into the water. The Mermaid Queen held the limp body of Christine, bright red blood smeared across her blue cheek.  
  
"Thou hast killed Christine," she said coldly.  
  
James turned and gave a low cry. He dashed towards the water, about to dive in, but the Mermaid Queen had created a barrier which froze him there. He clawed vainly at the air, trying to reach for Christine who was held gently in the blue arms of the Mermaid Queen, only a few steps away.  
  
"Jamie..." Christine's voice faltered. "I love you always..."  
  
Then the light dimmed and went out in her brilliant eyes.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" James screamed. The Mermaid Queen, feeling pity, hacked of a lock of Christine's hair and placed it gently on a rock. Then she sank to the bottom, bringing Christine down to her watery grave.  
  
James went mad with grief. The barrier prevented him from diving into the water to find his Christine. Soon his grief turned into anger. Anger and grief causes a person to age faster. Slowly as the months of his madness and fury raged on, lines began to appear on his face. Hairs sprouted on his face and his pleasant deep voice became harsh and gutteral.  
  
Finally he stopped raging and noticed, for the first time, Christine's lock of hair. He reached out and picked it up and carefully wrapped and knotted it around his right wrist. Then he looked at his reflection. He was no longer the boy he knew. In his place now was a man with a savage expression.  
  
Christine will always be Christine. But Jamie was no longer Jamie. That chapter of his life was closed.  
  
In years to come, James became a feared pirate. He was controlled by blood and killed anything he did not like. When Peter Pan arrived in Neverland, James already had a huge fleet of pirate ships filled by fearsome pirates armed to the teeth.  
  
James did not hate Peter Pan when he first met the cocky boy. In fact he rather liked him. But one thing led to another and the two of them began to clash swords. In that fateful second, Peter Pan neatly severed James' right hand and flung it into the sea where the crocodile was waiting. But it wasn't so much the loss of his hand that hurt him than the loss of Christine's hair. By doing so, Peter Pan had struck the chord in James' heart that hurt the most.  
  
Therefore this was how the enmity came to be. A Lost Girl, a lock of hair and Peter Pan.  
  
Many nights when Hook lay in bed in the Jolly Roger, he could almost hear Christine calling him in the dark depths of the water.  
  
"Jamie....Jamie...."  
  
Then he'd sit up and look around, and cry as he remembered the times when a pretty blonde girl brushed his hair and called him by that long-forgotten name.  
  
~The End~ 


End file.
